Nixie drone watch wins Intel Make It Wearable contest

Intel’s huge contest to find the best and most promising new wearables is over, and it’s the Nixie drone, which can take awesome selfies as you dangle from cliffs or cut through choppy waters, that took first place.

Just a month ago we told you all about the Nixie, a smartwatch that can detach from your wrist and fly overhead to snap classy selfies, whatever you’re up to. Well, this impressive prototype wearable just won Intel’s massive Make It Wearable contest, bagging its creators half a million dollars to get the Nixie into production.

Nixie was voted the most exciting of the ten finalists, with a low cost robotic hand coming in second place. The Open Biotics prosthetic costs less than $1000 to produce (contrast that with the 14 grand cost of current prosthetics, as quoted in the entry video) yet features electronic tendons offering accurate grip.

We were a little gutted that British wearable tech Blocks didn’t win anything, as it’s one of the few smartwatch initiatives that’s got us genuinely excited. Basically a Project Ara for smartwatches, Blocks allows you to piece together your own wrist rocket from a wide mix of individual pieces, to create your perfect device.